..However, recognition that the Babesia spp. are indeed an ongoing and expanding blood safety threat will probably prove instrumental in the development of viable interventions to limit transmission of these agents...

..Thus, we evaluated the ability of the Mirasol pathogen reduction technology (PRT; CaridianBCT), which uses riboflavin (RB) and ultraviolet (UV) light, to diminish the presence of B. microti in apheresis plasma and platelets (PLTs)...

Seroprevalence of Babesia microti in blood donors from Babesia-endemic areas of the northeastern United States: 2000 through 2007

..The extent of Babesia infections among blood donors has not been well defined. To determine how common exposure to B. microti is among blood donors, a seroprevalence study was undertaken in the American Red Cross Northeast Division...

..Although Lyme disease has not been reported from blood transfusion, newly identified tick-borne diseases such as ehrlichiosis raise additional questions about the role of the tick in transfusion-transmitted diseases...

Identification of Babesia microti-specific immunodominant epitopes and development of a peptide EIA for detection of antibodies in serum

..The rAg-based immunoblot assay has potential as a supplemental test for confirming the presence of antibodies to T. cruzi in blood specimens and for identifying false-positive results obtained with other assays...